For Whom the Dogs Bark

65F, 85%, WSW 7 mph to start, 70F to end. Ran the Standard Chartered Marathon in Dubai today. Though SGM one year had higher finishing temperatures, this was easily the most difficult marathon I have run temperature-wise. Not a good day for running, a little too hot, a few too little training miles coming in, a little too much time on planes. Today's results have been brewing for the last 10 days since I got here, good speed but it only lasts a little while. 3:47:06 on the website (2 seconds slower on my watch), about 8 minutes slower than the marathon embedded in a 30-mile long run I did just a few weeks ago. I'm glad I ran it, but I was lucky to finish it and to get a BQ for 2017. The course measured 0.1 long, so only slightly long after correcting for a few tangents, for which I was grateful. There were only 2,000 finishers in the marathon, but a 10K and a 4K going on as well, starting much later, apparently somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 runners out there, no one seems sure. The toilets at the beginning were located about a half mile from the start line, trailers rather than PoPs, segregated by gender. The men's had separate urinals, lots of them, but only two toilets in each of about 5 trailers, flush toilets but no plumbing, I'll stop there.

The website said to get there 90 minutes early, which me and 10 other runners did. I didn't take any outer clothing and the air is heavy enough here to make it feel cold at 65F in the dark. They let the elites go early and we started right on time at 6:30, after shivering for an hour and a half, which probably contributed to the bonk. The course is simple, a 7-mile out and back followed by a 19-mile out and back in the opposite direction, perfectly flat but too hot. Gave us a chance to see the lead pack twice, once at about 8K (their 10K, about 15 runners, 100% African) and again at about 20K (their 30K, 4 runners), which was cool.  I settled in to an 8:10/mile pace, which felt easy and sustainable. I held it readily through 15 before the wheels came off. It was a lack of glycogen, was able to hold heart rate (170) all the way through mile 21 before it started to fall -- so for about 6 miles I was running at the same heart rate and coming in 10-15 seconds slower with each split. Had stomach problems from the heat and took a 4-minute stop in the PoP at 35K; was just glad to find one, they were sprinkled out about every third water station on the course, two to a station. By some miracle I had carried my own TP, they were out. After that I never hit 8s again, and even got a 10:07 late in the race; stopped to throw up once but didn't. I did get 4th in my age group out of 35, which is OK but not excellent. A normal time of 3:34 would have gotten second, and hitting my original goal of mid-7s would have won it.

Was supposed to meet somebody after the race for a ride but we never connected. Finally found a taxi about an hour after the race ended and am recovering OK. The bag pickup was a mess at the end, 20,000+ runners crowding around a few stalls with staff screaming over the loudspeakers, threatening to shut the windows if people didn't behave. Lots of water out on the course and the spectators were nice. This is the richest marathon, $200K for first place men and women (my wife instructed me to go for the win when she found out about the prize money), the first 4 men coming in under 2:05, but it was odd. Maybe most international races are like this. They gave out whole water bottles on the course -- from the first one I drank a few swallows and tossed it. After that I poured them out on my head,which probably made the difference in finishing or not. But other amenities were scarce indeed, very little food at the end, limited staff, etc.

Probably won't run this one again even given the opportunity. Also, looks like I won't be doing Boston this year due to work conflicts. I can feel myself aging out of any possibility for times that are much faster. I am not really a 3:47 runner -- yet -- but probably no longer a 3:28 runner either. Boston 2015 was a special race that is acquiring stature with perspective.